Change Initiative Founder and Managing Director, Madge Gibson joins the OFM Business Hour to discuss how organisations in the country should approach looming retrenchments, owing to financial constraints. Gibson says organisations should ensure they have considered other alternatives that may defer retrenchments by a year or cancel them altogether. 

Alternatives businesses should explore before lay-offs 

• Impose a freeze on new hires;
• Restrict overtime;
• Minimise expensive sub-contracting; 
• Restructure your staff complement or redeploy staff to other branches; 
• Reduce working hours (which could result in lower wages/salaries);
• And identify retrenchment volunteers 

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If there is no other route except for lay-offs, the Change Initiative Founder and Managing Director says “you have to consider the dignity and wellbeing of your employees”. 

 Offer outplacement services to support retrenched staff 

According to the Change Initiative “outplacement, although relatively new to South Africa, has been a staple part of international business practice since the early 1970’s. Outplacement provides departing employees with emotional support and professional career management expertise, with the objective securing a new role as quickly and painlessly as possible”.

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OFM Business Hour